What would you do if a university student wanted to bring her newborn to class?

[camaleon]

That is really. I have to make a decision regarding this. I need advice. I want to accommodate this student as much as possible but I am very aware of disrupting other students' learning experience.
What would you do?

I think its terrible if you dont allow it tbh. Then people wonder why women get stuck being sahms. If the student goes out with any crying or noise what harm does it do. I am very glad all my lecturers were forward thinking women.

Fair enough. In that case id say fine.

I occasionally took a new born to lectures, the baby was no problem inside a sling next to a boob and not many even realised he was in there.

I also took his older brother to a few practical classes and discovered that he is better at reading x rays than most of my colleagues
He now has a fair idea that he wants to be a radiologist.

On a serious note (my previous posts were perhaps a bit flippant for such a serious thread!!!) I do think she ought to be able to finish her degree tbh. The worst bit I think is that in this day and age she is being made to attend a lecture at all with a newborn.

I wouldn't have wanted the hassle and would hope that things have progressed enough to make allowances for this and do web connections to the lecture or some other method.

The last thing I would have wanted to do with my newborns is go into university but a video link to home would have been good.

One of dh's students brought her preschool age dd to one of his maths lecturers when her childcare fell through and it was all fine except when she piped up in a quiet bit, 'Mummy, your school is really boring.'

If the baby is quiet and the student is strategically sat by the exit it shouldn't disrupt anyone.

I think its terrible if you dont allow it tbh.

I really disagree, I think you should be able to stop your degree and pick it back up. It's terrible that she's being forced to do her degree with a newborn in tow- if she can't leave them for an hour to go to a lecture, how on earth is she going to go to the library and get all the coursework done?

My uni has a breastfeeding room and baby changing facilities in a couple of places.

I would allow the baby to attend. In my opinion, it's a feminist thing to do. Be very clear with your student that she will have to take the baby outside if s/he cries.

I took my DD to postgrad seminars until she was 2 and a bit and now teach at uni myself.

One of the things I've found hard having babies with no family/friends nearby to call on regularly, is that you just can't do things like pop into work/uni for a quick lecture/seminar/meeting. It can be really isolating and hard on your career.

I managed it santana I was in lectures on my due date then gave birth whilst it was half term. I them went straight back with no extended dates on anything and passed with a 2.1 degree. I was also told by people it couldnt be done, and I waant the only women who managed it.

The onwhat did get pregnant and quit is now at home on income support as she had grand plans to return but didn't.

*the one that!

Santana I think that's for her to judge - but presumably she worked up to Christmas - so now just has to juggle through 3 months to the end of term. Stopping & picking up wold at least mean having to recap last term. She's much better off finishing her degree & either getting a job or SAHM - but knowing that she;d safely locked in her achievement so far.

SantanaLopez, as you can see many have managed before her.
When I moved to the UK I discovered two things:

1. I was pregnant (just when I decided to stop 'trying') because of the new job.
2. I had no right to maternity leave (2 unpaid weeks).

My line managers (women) were horrible. Nothing directlyl nasty. It was my problem, I had no right to take the baby on campus (another one, different to the one I am at now, but probably same protocols); they did not like people working from 'home', etc. At some point I thought a termination was the only way out and I am by no means in a vulnerable position.

I don't want to be that 'neutral' person who just look at a woman with a newborn and tells her one way or another that she should interrupt her studies without even trying something else.

I completed a degree with three small children including a toddler and newborn. I took one or the other of the little ones to lectures on occasion and studied predominantly from home (and in cafes where I could breast feed and ds2 could look at the interesting people and not eat my books).

Without this accommodation on behalf of the uni I couldn't have completed my degree. I didn't want to leave and come back later as I was afraid I would lose momentum.
I had some fabulous lecturers who made me feel like anything was possible despite being a teenage parent. It made a huge difference to my life and the way I perceived my future.

Exactly a little bit of flexibility gives the student much, much more than it takes away from the other people involved. It is potentially lifechanging for her, versus a risk of a limited distraction.

Childcare cost between £5 and £10 ph round here (prob top end for a newborn). Unless her mum lives locally - that's unaffordable on a student budget.

I would suggest to her that if she hasn't got one already, she invests in a stretchy wrap - a lightweight one like the Hana Baby would be perfect. Reasons:

• babies tend to sleep longer in slings. They are also proven to reduce crying. A baby under 3 months would probably spend the whole lecture asleep.
• It is hands-free for her, for making notes etc
• It keeps the baby a little more out-of-sight, for all those who are 'distracted' by having a small baby in the room, since he or she is attached to the mother's front for the whole time.
• You can also use it as an additional support for breastfeeding - put the baby through one cross, support with one arm, leaving one arm free for note-taking etc. It's not hands-free (their head should stick out for safety, and you support with an arm), but it does ease arm strain and make it easier to do something else with the other hand.

I'd have no problem with allowing a student to attend a lecture with a newborn, though I'd also check if she'd prefer to have the lecture put up as a podcast on Moodle or recorded in some other way for her and offer the choice.

Small groups would be a prob, we have tutorials with 4-6 in and I can imagine even a teeny baby being quite distracting for other students. OTOH they only last 50mins and we run lots of them so a good accommodation if she has friends on campus would be to find a time when a friend can 'hold the baby' so to speak for 50mins whilst she attends a conveniently timed class (even allowing her to duck out if the baby gets distressed and needs her).

I do remember when I was an undergrad a fellow student became pregnant and the chair of the Exam Board wouldn;'t even allow her to take a cushion in to ease her backpain during long exams. That struck me as unbelievably petty.

My father took my toddler sister to lectures, and he was the lecturer. It was an old-fashioned stepped lecture theatre and she sat on the stage next to my father playing dolls while all the students cooed. (Sorry, irrelevant).

I think, try it and see. Then if it is genuinely disruptive, distracting others, not working for her you have an honest re-think and chat. Good on you for not just saying 'No'.

Hats off to you all who've managed it! My own student days were hard enough without a baby attached.

On reflection, I do think both options (carrying on, with flexibility and being able to take a break and come back) should be available. I know that I couldn't have completed my degree to the best of my ability with a 3 month old, but now mine is nearly a year, I think I would be able to.

Please say yes and let her. I'm begging you. Because, quite simply, we need to be more child friendly.

A newborn needs its mother as much as a mother needs to know her newborn is fine. She can bf in theatre and u d'état and that if her newborn cries and she can't sooth the baby by moving position (as in wind, moving them upright) then she needs to leave until the baby is sorted.

I would love to see this in practice much more.

Know, not d'état e stupid phone!

penelope thats crap re the cushion. my uni werent great to begin with but i had exams when heavily oreg and some were quite long exams. so they arranged for me to sit near a door and that someone was available to accompany me (to check no cheating i guess) if i needed the toilet.

i found 'the system' was inflexible but actually most individual lecturers etc were happy to try and help. i did end up taking some time off, the rules wouldnt allow me to have time off for having a baby... i had to get a medical note from.gp and then another note when i started back 8mths later. i graduated with a 2:1 and ds1 came to my graduation ceremony, again not technically allowed but aided by a friend who worked for the uni. :)

As a student one or two lectures as a one off fine. All the time too distracting.

Especially to other students doing that important presentation. I would be really put off.

Even her feeding the baby will mean movement, fussing, noise etc.

The uni wud be better put to giving her extra funds for childcare.

Plus if h and s policy says no kids and you go against that policy would that not be an issue?